Gerald Britt: The formula for revitalizing Dallas neighborhoods

Improving our neighborhoods requires more than money

Answers to the question of “What makes a neighborhood a great place to live?” are as varied as the people who respond. Schools, shopping, parks, recreation, safety and great neighbors often rank high on the list. Size and cost of homes — not to mention the possibility of this all-important asset increasing in value — are also critical considerations.

Not all successful neighborhoods are wealthy ones. Nor should they be. But it's not only possible but necessary to a city's future to revitalize areas pockmarked by poverty and create mixed-income, diverse neighborhoods that can grow rich in community and amenities.

Anyone who's ever been involved in this work gets dragged into the “chicken or the egg” debate as to whether better neighborhoods follow economic investment or vice versa. Rather than argue that point, it's important that we all get to work on revitalization that is done in a manner that is purposeful, inclusive and thorough in its planning.

The city of Dallas is trying to get this right, and significant areas are undergoing promising changes that deserve recognition: Spring Avenue Revitalization effort; Dolphin Heights infrastructure improvements; Work in the Jubilee Neighborhood, supported by generous philanthropy; Bexar Street redevelopment; and, important work that the Dallas Housing Authority has done in Frazier Courts, West Dallas and soon the Bon Ton area. All of these projects speak to a growing awareness that we neglect the most desperate areas of our city at our collective economic, social and civic peril.

Such work challenges city officials to engage at deeper levels with the stakeholders already making progress in underdeveloped neighborhoods. Non-profit community development corporations and for-profit developers also should have a substantive role in these efforts. Citizens certainly must continue to be engaged in the redesign and redevelopment of their neighborhoods.

This planning also brings attention to the basic conveniences most of us look for in a nice community. In 2001, the Boston Consulting Group — working to help T.R. Hoover Community Development Corp. build on its single-family housing efforts in Dallas' Ideal Neighborhood — asked residents what they would like to see in the way of economic development.

Residents mentioned things like a grocery store, a pharmacy, a laundromat, a dry cleaners and a dollar store. Seven years later, residents of this area still await these conveniences within reasonable proximity to where they live.

Developing human capital must also be a part of this strategy. This means government entities reinventing themselves in creative collaboration with neighborhoods and community-organizing groups. Neighborhood schools in these distressed communities could be reorganized as community education centers — drawing from community-based organizations, schools, community colleges, city and even county government, combining city library, public safety centers, support services, as well as recreation and wellness facilities.

Economic development strategies should be expanded to include continuing education in job training, job retraining and small business development. Just consider the workforce needs that will come with the inland port and the Great Trinity Forest, as well as opportunities in construction connected to the Trinity River project.

Some residents are suspicious because broken promises and unrealized expectations have too often been the norm. Some of these skeptics are men and women who laid the groundwork for the success through their engaged citizenship. Because they organized, agitated and demanded that the needs of their neighborhoods be taken seriously, these areas stand poised to become safer, productive and attractive places to live. They too may become believers.

We can't be naïve; things are by no means perfect. But these are positive signs and should be recognized and encouraged by all of Dallas.

(Op-ed essay, Appreciating value, Viewpoints section, May 27, 2008, 11A, The Dallas Morning News)

You know, I'm believing that, as a community, we can do just about whatever we decide should be done. Our failings are related more to will than to any lack of capacity.

How about you?